


On This Ledge We Stand Together

by SecondSeraphim



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28334892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecondSeraphim/pseuds/SecondSeraphim
Summary: Two women meet on a roof.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	On This Ledge We Stand Together

Kate Marsh pushed open the Blackwell dorm’s roof access door and stepped out, only to pause as she realized she was not alone. As the metal door clung shut behind her, the woman that was already there jerked her head around.

“Stay back! Don’t try to stop me!”

“I-I-” Kate stuttered, before her mind caught up with the situation and she realized where exactly the woman was standing.

On the ledge.

Her ledge.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think anybody would be up here.” Then, thinking that wasn’t a sufficient explanation – “I- we’re here for the same reason. I think.”

The woman, a mess already, somehow seemed to deflate even more. “Oh. Should have figured no one would…never mind” Refocusing on Kate, the woman scooted over. “Here. Plenty of room I guess.”

As Kate stepped up onto the ledge, she gave the woman a closer look. She was approximately her own age, with chin length electric blue hidden in part by a beanie. An intricate tattoo composed mostly of flowers and a large yellow skull covered the majority of the woman’s right most arm, though both it and the left arm where covered in a number of scratches that if Kate had to guess based on how the woman was hugging herself, had been caused by the bluenette’s own fingernails. A white shirt with skull and ripped jeans completed the girl’s attire alongside a bullet neckless.

Turning her attention away from the woman, Kate looked down at the ground far below.

She was about to take the step when the thought briefly crossed her mind of the etiquette of the situation. Should she wait for the other woman to go first, or go ahead and go? The other woman was here first, but didn’t seem to be in any hurry, whereas Kate had chosen now, half an hour before sunrise, specifically to avoid other people.

Though she expected those other people to be down there on the ground. Not here beside her.

Just as Kate realized the absurdity of the whole thing, she was again distracted from her final task by a loud sniff from beside her. Glancing over, she watched as the woman clutched tightly at her own hair, her head held between her hands. “Are you ok?” She asked before she could help herself, and flinched when the woman let out a broken, miserable sound partway between a laugh and a sob. “Sorry. I guess that was a dumb question considering.”

“No” the woman croaked. “That’s not it.” She wiped her eyes and looked up at Kate, and Kate was struck by the vivid blue gazing back at her. “It’s just…I think you are the first person to ask me that in six fucking months.”

“Oh”

“Yeah…” she muttered back, and for a moment the conversation seems the stall there, before the woman looked back up and asked “What about you?”

“S-sorry?”

“I mean, I guess it’s pretty fucking obvious you aren’t ok but…shit I don’t know. What brings you here?”

Kate hugged herself.

“I mean, you don’t have to tell me or anyth-”

“There was a party” Kate whispered, though it must have been loud enough as the other woman stopped speaking. “The Vortex Club was hosting it. I had never been to one and I thought I’d try it out. Broaden my horizon’s you know? Next day there’s this…” she pauses as she struggles to find the right word, settling finally on her companion’s favorite adjective. “FUCKING video online and all over the school. Of me making out with a bunch of people. And I don’t remember any of it.” She hugged herself tighter. “I swear to God I had one sip of red wine. And then I drank water. But all I remember after that is getting sick and dizzy and then Nathan Prescott said he would take me to the hospital-”

“SHIT!” the woman screamed, startling Kate, and it was all she could do not to fall over the edge. Her heart pounding, she stepped back a pace and down from the ledge before turning to focus on the bluenette, who was currently hitting herself on the head with one fist while swearing up a storm. “Shit fucking FUCK! I should have known that goddamned fucking asshole would have pulled that shit more than once!” she half shouted, and Kate paled.

“What?”

“I met him in some shithole bar that didn't card me. He was too rich for the place and too wasted. And he kept flashing bills...”

“W-what happened?”

“I was an idiot. I thought he was so blazed it would be an easy score. We came back to his room here. We drank and I laughed at his rich kid bullshit. He was one step ahead and put something in my beer...”

“Oh God…did he…?”

“No. Pretty sure he didn’t anyway. I know I passed out on the floor. I woke up and that perv was smiling, crawling towards me with a camera... Everything was a blur... I tried to kick him in the balls and broke a lamp. Nathan freaked, so I managed to bum rush the door and get the hell out.” She swallowed. “I was fully clothed when I woke up so…yeah…”

“Shit…” Kate muttered, then paled. She began to shake, something the punk girl quickly noticed. 

“Hey what’s wrong?”

“W-what if he” she swallowed, “What if he ra-” then paused, unable to even finish the thought. The woman looked at her in horror equal to what she felt.

“What else do you remember? Anything?

“All I recall is driving for a long time...then I woke up in a room...I thought it was a hospital because it was so white and bright... Somebody was talking to me in a soft voice...I thought it was a doctor...until I heard Nathan and felt a sharp sting in my neck...and...and…and then that's all I remember! I don't know what happened... I woke up outside my dorm room the next day. I didn't have any marks or bruises, but I felt gross.”

“Gross how?” her companion demanded. “Were you sore? Down there? Or…sticky?”

“N-no,” she replied, and the woman visibly relaxed.

“That’s something at least. I guess.”

The conversation lapsed into silence again.

“Is that…is that why you’re here? Because of Nathan?”

The woman let out a snort. “Well, it certainly didn’t help.” Silence. Kate broke it.

“Please…” she asked, the woman glancing at her. “…tell me.”

The woman continued to stare at her for a moment, before snorting again and stepping back from the ledge to sit down. She sat there in silence for nearly a minute, staring at her own hands. Just as Kate was about to repeat her request the woman spoke.

“So like… five years ago…my dad dies right? And then my best friend in the whole world moves away the day of the fucking funeral, not even showing up to say goodbye. And I never hear from her again. And then not even a full fucking year after her husband’s in the ground, my mom’s fucking this goddamned neo-Nazi with a penchant for hitting teenage girls. And because she’s a selfish moron she ends up marrying the dickless ass. And then-” she stopped, and drew in a raspy, needy breath, her face flashing with pain. Kate stepped toward her, sliding down beside her against the back of the ledge. She placed a hand on the woman’s knee and gave what she hoped was an encouraging squeeze.

It must have done its job, because- 

“Six months ago, my girlfriend disappeared off the face of the planet. I looked…everywhere for her. I was the only one who looked.”

“Six months ago...” Kate murmured, then looked up. “Your girlfriend... was it Rachel Amber?”

The woman shook at the name. “Yeah. Did you know her?”

“No.” Kate replied. “But I’ve seen the posters.”

“Ah. Yeah, I put those all up. Good to know I guess that at least one person paid attention to them. Not that it fucking mattered in the end.”

“D-don’t say that!” Kate took the woman’s hands in her own. “Just because no one’s seen her yet doesn’t mean she won’t turn up!”

The woman stared at her with a look of shock that quickly morphed to one of anger. Before Kate could ask what she had said wrong however it then quickly collapses into one of sorrow. “You don’t know do you?” she quietly asks.

“D-don’t know what?”

“...they found her. Yesterday. Buried in the junkyard. She’s been dead this entire time.”

Kate felt like she’d been punched in the gut. “No...”

“Yeah..."

"Do- do the police know anything?"

"I don't know. Noone's said shit to me. They didn't even tell me she was dead. I had to find out from the TV. The goddamned TV! How's that for a pile of bullshit? After dating their daughter for two and a half fucking years her worthless piece of shit parents who didn’t even bother looking for her couldn’t be bothered to let me know that she’s fucking DEAD!”

Kate jerked forward, her arms encircling the stranger and pulling her forward into a hug. The woman collapsed against her, painful sobs racking her body as Kate gently rubbed her back. “I’m so sorry” she whispered into the woman’s ear. “You must have loved each other very much.”

She felt the woman’s stiff nod against her neck.

Kate wasn’t sure how long they sat there like that, the woman crying and Kate gently holding her. All she knew was that the sun had risen well into the sky by the time the woman pulled back and wiped her face.

“Thanks. I really needed that.”

“Anytime” Kate replied, and found herself meaning it. 

The woman must have caught it too, for she gave a hesitant smile and held out a shaking hand. “Chloe Price.”

Kate took it. “Kate Marsh. A pleasure to meet you.”

Their introductions are interrupted by a loud gurgle from Kate’s stomach and she fought back a blush. She had not eaten that morning before coming up to the roof, and her meals over the preceding few days could hardly be called that.

“So, Kate,” Chloe asked, pulling the shorter girl up and grinning at her. “I don’t know about you but I could do with some breakfast. Wanna get out of here?”

Kate glanced back over to the ledge. It stilled called to her...but its voice was no longer quite so loud. Not as loud as the voice of her new friend.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Awesome!” Chloe shouted as she grabbed her hand and began to pull her down the stairs. “Hey are you from the bay? No? Well there’s this awesome diner you might not have heard of called The Two Whales. You’re gonna love it...”

**Author's Note:**

> A list of numbers for suicide prevention can be found:  
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines>  
> Please live.


End file.
